State Socioeconomic Report 2017

Starting 2018, the economic performance of each state is presented in the State’s Socioeconomic Report. Data on economy and social which covers Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Consumer Price Index, population, labour force, unemployment, income distribution and other principal information comprises in 15 reports for 13 states and 2 Federal Territories (Kuala Lumpur and Labuan).

ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE BY STATE 2017

Six states contributed 71.2 per cent to the national GDP in 2017 as compared to 70.6 per cent in the previous year. Selangor recorded a contribution of 23.0 per cent followed by W.P. Kuala Lumpur (15.6%), Sarawak (9.7%), Johor (9.5%), Sabah (6.8%) and Pulau Pinang (6.6%) as shown in Chart 1.

On the other hand, twelve states registered a better economic growth as compared to 2016. Overall, a favourable growth in Services, Manufacturing and Agriculture sectors has driven performances of several states in Malaysia, amongst them are Pahang which accelerated to 7.8 per cent (2016: 2.0%), Selangor 7.1 per cent (2016: 4.8%), Johor 6.2 per cent (2016: 5.7%), Perak 5.5 per cent (2016: 4.1%) and Kelantan 5.0 per cent (2016: 4.8%). Apart from the combination of these main sectors, the robust performance in the Construction sector also spurred the economy of Melaka which posted 8.1 per cent as compared to 4.5 per cent in 2016, Terengganu 5.9 per cent (2016: 3.1%) and Negeri Sembilan 4.9 per cent (2016: 3.5%). Meanwhile, Kedah's economy grew to 5.0 per cent (2016: 3.2%) which was pioneered by the Agriculture and Services sectors while W.P. Kuala Lumpur increased to 7.4 per cent (2016: 5.9%) largely driven by the Services sector.

The economic growth of Sabah and Sarawak was shaped by the performance of commodity based sectors such as Agriculture and Mining & quarrying. Sabah recorded a growth of 8.2 per cent (2016: 4.7%) while Sarawak improved to 4.7 per cent (2016: 2.3%).

Pulau Pinang and Perlis grew 5.3 per cent (2016: 5.6%) and 2.3 per cent (2016: 3.9%) W.P. Labuan registered 6.1 per cent as compared to 7.2 per cent in 2016.

GDP PER CAPITA

GDP per capita at the national level rose from RM38,915 to RM42,228 in 2017 as depicted in Table 1. Six states surpassed the national level, led by W.P. Kuala Lumpur (RM111,321), followed by W.P. Labuan (RM65,949), Pulau Pinang (RM49,873), Sarawak (RM49,327), Selangor (RM48,091) and Melaka (RM46,015).

Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 3.7 percent in 2017 (2016: 2.1%). It was influenced by the rise of several main groups at the state level. In 2017, seven states surpassed the national inflation rate namely Johor and Negeri Sembilan (4.2%), Melaka (4.1%) and Pulau Pinang (4.0%) while Selangor, Kedah and Perlis experienced a same increase of 3.9 per cent as depicted in Chart 2. Generally, the inflation rate was affected by the increase in food & non-alcoholic beverages. In addition, the price increase in RON95 to RM2.16 per liter as compared to RM1.76 per liter in 2016 also contributed to the growth of transport group.

Malaysia recorded a total of 32.05 million population in 2017. The highest population was registered by Selangor with 6.38 million, which covers 19.9 per cent from the overall population in Malaysia. It was followed by Sabah and Johor with 3.87 million and 3.70 million respectively (Chart 3). Total contribution of these three states was 43.5 from the Malaysia’s population.

The highest life expectancy at birth was posted by Sarawak with 75.1 years for male and 78.6 years for female while the lowest was in Terengganu with 68.8 years (male) and 74.6 years (female).

Labour force in Malaysia increased 2.0 per cent to approximately 15.0 million persons in 2017 as compared to 14.7 million persons in 2016. Selangor owned the highest number of employed persons with 3.4 million, followed by Sabah and Johor which recorded 1.8 million and 1.6 million employed persons respectively (Chart 4).

Labour force participation rate (LFPR) rose 0.3 percentage points to 68.0 per cent as compared to 67.7 per cent in 2016. At the state level, LFPR in Selangor increased to 75.7 per cent followed by W.P. Kuala Lumpur with 68.7 per cent.

On the other hand, Melaka recorded the lowest unemployment rate in 2017 with 1.0 per cent. Amongst states with unemployment rate below the national level (3.4%) were Pulau Pinang, Kedah, Negeri Sembilan and Selangor.